When Tommy woke up the next morning, it was to someone knocking quietly on the wall of his crate, and sunshine warming up his face. He groaned a bit and tugged the blanket over his head, burying his face into something soft that his head was laying on. When did he find a pillow? Or maybe he used one of Jack's old shirts as a pillow? That would explain it. But if that was the case, he probably should get up. He needed to wash it in the river before he returned it to Jack.
There was another quiet knock, and Tommy squeezed his eyes open to see who it was, blearily peering around.
But when he met an unfamiliar room full of boxes and a large circular window, he sat up quickly as yesterday came flooding back. He was a temple hand, now. And he lived in the attic of said temple. And he had an actual bed . Tommy beamed and threw the blankets off, scrambling out of bed and climbing up onto the window seat to look out over the forest.
He had to squint since the sun was rising over the trees, but it was well worth it to see the glittering forest behind the temple. There was another knock, and a quiet voice called through the wood.
"Tommy? You awake?"
Oh, that sounded like Puffy.
"Yeah, I'm awake! I'm coming-" He crossed the room and pulled the trapdoor open. Sure enough, Puffy was standing on the ladder with a pile of clothes in one arm and a smile on her face. "Good morning! Did you sleep well?"
Tommy nodded and stepped back so she could step into the room. "Mhm! It was nice." He sat on the edge of the bed and swung his legs a bit. "It was probably the best night's sleep I've had in a long time."
She laughed a bit as she climbed into his room. "Well I'm glad!" She smoothed out her shirt, which Tommy realized was just a plain white button-up tucked into a long red skirt that hung loosely around her ankles. She looked around the room for a moment, taking in the changes he'd made. For a moment, Tommy was worried she'd be angry at him for messing with the storage, but after a beat she just huffed out a quiet laugh then turned her attention back to him. "Want breakfast?"
He nodded eagerly. "Yes, please."
"Good." She handed him a small pile of clothes. "Get changed first, ok? These should hopefully fit, but if they don't just poke your head out and let me know; and I'll get you something new."
Tommy nodded again and unfolded the shirt with a curious look. Puffy stepped back down the ladder, shutting the trapdoor so he could get dressed in private.
He took his shirt off and slipped the new one on to replace it. It was a bit long on him, but it fit better than his last shirt so that was a plus. Next, he changed the new pair of pants and encountered something similar. The pants were a bit too long on him, and they brushed against the floor as he walked around to test them out. But hey, he can work with that. So, he rolled up the bottoms of the pants so they rested around his ankles; then left the attic.
Puffy was waiting at the bottom of the ladder and smiled when he came down. "Do the clothes fit ok?" She glanced him over.
"Yeah!" He hopped down from the last rung, pulling out the shirt. "I like the shirt. The fabric is really soft."
"I'm glad you like it." She smiled, and put a hand on his shoulder as she led him away. He rubbed the fabric of the shirt between his fingers as they walked and frowned when he realized something.
"Is this my uniform?" He looked up at Puffy. "It doesn't look anything like what you were wearing yesterday."
"Oh!" She laughed, shaking her head. "No no, this isn't your uniform. You'll get your measurements taken today for that and it'll be here in a few days. These were just extra clothes I had lying around from when my son was around your age. You're..What? 13? 14?"
